


Nott the Brave and the Ground Hawk

by Warpony



Series: Feral Echoes [5]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: 5e D&D Creatures, Gen, Past Gladiator, That's D&D, Treasure in Unexpected Places, Yes They Really Have These, past enslavement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23866357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warpony/pseuds/Warpony
Summary: Nott finds herself cornered by an unfamiliar creature.* * * * *Part of a larger WIP involving a D&D Original Character and the Critical Role Mighty Nein.
Series: Feral Echoes [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711534
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Nott the Brave and the Ground Hawk

Nott clutched her crossbow, shrinking further into the rock at her back. 

In front of her a massive creature growled and slavered, a dribble of Nott's blood mixing with the creature's saliva. 

The rogue had never seen anything like it before. It stood on two legs, nearly as tall as Yasha. A long tail swayed behind it, it moved and bobbed almost like a giant turkey. It was even covered in a coat of long, brightly colored feathers. But its paws sported huge claws and its head looked more like a lizard, full of overlarge crocodilian teeth and large reptilian eyes. A length of rusty, broken chain looped and hung from its neck. It hissed and warbled, eyes flickering.

It crouched, tensing as Nott scrambled to reload a bolt. She only hoped she could get the shot off fast enough to hit it. 

The creature snarled and leapt a step forwards only to scurry back again as a massive bulk of bay roan and blue fur dropped into the space between it and its prey. 

Brunnera landed on all fours, fur puffed up on end like an angry dog, tail lashing and lips curled back to show his teeth. A knife clutched in one hand he growled low and dangerous, keeping the wall of his frame protectively in front of Nott. 

The bird-lizard creature hissed, its short arms flexing its claws a bit to clack them together. After a moment of reassessment it lunged again, springing off thick, muscled rear legs.

Brunnera reared up to meet it with a snarl, striking thrice in rapid succession. The knife slashed across its face, a knee came up and thudded violently into the ribcage with a sound akin to crunching bone and his tail snagged around the beast's throat above the chain. Brunnera gave a violent yank, tail hauling the creature off its feet and sending it skidding in the dirt and underbrush, throwing it away from them. The creature rolled over a few times before scrambling up to its paws again, vengefully hissing and its feathers fluffing in display to match Brunnera's puffed fur.

Brunnera stayed upright but firmly planted between Nott at the animal. One big hand moved back to help her up, "Y'hurt?" 

"No, no I'm fine!" Nott rasped despite the blood running from her arm into her bandages. There was a note of relief in her voice that she wasn't alone anymore in this fight. "It surprised me. I didn't... I don't..."

Brunnera's big hand patted her side blindly, his focus still on the creature. "Can you shoot?... without moving away?"

The goblin peeked under Brunnera's thigh. "No. Not a good shot anyways-"

"Damn." Brunnera huffed, he growled again at the bird-lizard creature as it stalked towards them, blood running rivulets from its slashed face.

"Listen... I'll get its head up.... shoot at the base of the neck... two... two if you can..." The fighter tapped his chest, where his throat met with his sternum and rib cage.

"I don't... I don't know if I can-"

Brunnera chuffed, "Nott the Brave! Of course you can!"

The goblin looked up towards Brunnera's half turned face then nodded, she quickly set two bolts into the Tinkertop Bolt Blaster. "Okay. Okay I'm ready! On three.... three!"

Brunnera dove forwards, landing hard on his hands, body arched in a buck. The creature followed the motion, lunging instinctively but Brunnera had already swung his legs under himself and sprung back up into the air. The beast tried to twist to follow and only threw itself under the fighter. Brunnera arched over its back, tail wrapping around one of its legs and driving the knife into its ribs, twisting and lodging it in place. One hand hooked under its jaw and wrenched its head back. The momentum of Brunnera's weight sent him and the bird-lizard beast spinning in a grapple, ripping the creature right off its feet. It clawed and thrashed when they crash landed, Brunnera on his back and latching onto the creature struggling on top of him. The fighter wrapped his free arm around its throat, trying to cut off it's air; his fingers dug deeper under its jaw and wrenched back further, exposing its neck and chest. 

The instant Nott saw her opening she fired, sinking a bolt deep into its neck. It wailed and thrashed. Nott fired the next shot, plunging it into its throat and chest. It shuddered, hissed and went limp. 

Brunnera held his grapple; waiting until he was sure it was dead before shoving the carcass off him. "Perfect shot."

The firbolg fighter scooted back to get to his feet. He gave himself a shake and padded towards Nott, his ears pinned back spotting her bloody arm. He knelt next to her and gently touched her elbow. 

"Nott. You said... y'weren't hurt." He chuffed, digging into his pack he brought out a few of Caduceus' herbs he'd taken to carrying. The fighter wedged them in his mouth to chew into a poultice. 

"It’s just a nip." The creature had come out of nowhere. It was only Nott's uncanny instinct to dodge that had danced her out of the creature's teeth, leaving her arm with only a shallow graze. "Brunny, what the fuck was that thing!? You knew how to kill it, do you know what it was?"

He spat out the wad of chewed herbs and packed it to the wound before wrapping it with a roll of bandage. "Ground Hawk... a... Da...kota...raptor..."

"A what?"

"Dinosaur." He tied off the bandage and tugged her sleeve back into place. "Hold... until a cleric."

"... a dinosaur..." Nott peaked around the firbolg fighter, then scurried after him as Brunnera stood and returned to the carcass. "You've seen it before?"

"This kind... and bigger... in the colosseum... Fought 'em before... Rare... expensive… they didn't like it when... you killed 'em… " Brunnera absently rubbed his shoulder a little where an old scar was mostly hidden under fur. He remembered a particularly spectacular beating after a match with another creature like this one. A young Allosaurus? If he remembered the name right. It was over a decade ago. He'd barely managed to cut the beast's throat before it mauled him to badly and it'd bled out on the sand, to dangerous in it's death throws to send a healer to it. He'd already been a bloody pulp when the String's master had set a couple of brutes on him to punish him for killing the creature. "Get 'em from... an island... somewhere.... somewhere south..."

"That's how you knew how to kill it." Nott looked up at him. "How did you find me?"

"Tracks... it's were right behind... hurried." He tugged the chain around its neck. "Must've been a pet... got away..."

"Or worse." Nott poked at its teeth. 

He twisted and yanked his knife free from where it was wedged between two ribs and held it up, giving the dinosaur's belly a little suggestive poke. Brunnera smiled, slightly mischievous. "Wanna find... out?"

"That’s disgusting, Brunny.... Better hurry up and do it." Nott scooted over to crouch next to him. 

A few practiced slices and Brunnera had made neat work of gutting the dinosaur and scooping out its innards. He nudged Nott back and cut open its stomach. A foul soup of half-digested flesh and stomach juices spilled out, the smell was atrocious. Brunnera used the knife to flip over a rotting hand and forearm. A large ring with a blue stone still wedged on a bit of bone. 

"Definitely worse." Nott affirmed, fidgeting for a moment, eyeing the ring. Brunnera smiled and neatly snapped the bone with swift strike from the hilt of his dagger. He flipped the ring away into a bit of bare earth, scuffed a bit of dirt on it to scrub away the worst of the stomach juices then held it towards the goblin. 

She hesitated.

The fighter chuffed, "Your kill. Your prize."

"What? It's not mine..."

Brunnera cocked an ear at her then pointed to the two bolts sunk deep in the Dakotaraptor's chest, still oozing the creature's blood.

"Your kill. Yours. Nott the Brave."

He held the ring out again towards her, cradled in his palm. Cleaned up a bit the blue stone seemed to have a white marking in the center, almost like a star.

Nott looked between the creature and the ring a final time then snagged the bauble from his hand and stowed it away in a blur, blinking up at him with large eyes. "Where are the others?"

"Camp. You wandered out... of earshot...I offered... to go find you..." 

"Thank you. Close call." She looked sheepish. 

"...next time you... want to hunt for dinner... pick easier... prey."

"I wasn't-" She looked up just as Brunnera winked at her. Getting the message she closed her mouth and nodded. 

Brunnera crouched one last time, carefully cutting free a handful of large, yellow and blue feathers. They shimmered like beetle wings when he turned them in the light. Then he popped two of the largest teeth out of its gums. He held the feathers and teeth out towards Nott. 

This time the goblin took them without hesitating, offering a thank you. 

Brunnera chuffed and then dragged the carcass across his shoulders, heaving it up as easily as he would any deer or boar. The tail was so long it dragged on the earth. 

"Wait. Are we really taking it back?" Nott rasped. 

Brunnera flicked his ears in confusion. "Meat? Never... ate Ground Hawk?"

"No!"

"Tastes like... wood pigeon." Brunnera reassured. 

"Looks more like it'd taste like a lizard." Nott said with narrowed eyes. 

"S'a bird." Brunnera affirmed, he nudged Nott to walk ahead of him. "All of 'em... big, mean birds...Trust me."

Nott hummed, already weaving two of the brightly colored feathers into a braid of her hair. "I don't see why I shouldn't."

It was quite a hullabaloo when they returned with the Dakotaraptor slung over Brunnera's shoulders, Nott walking ahead of him with the creature's feathers in her hair, its teeth tied into a necklace with a bit of leather and the blue stone ring on her hand. She had used a little water from her canteen and the corner of her cloak to clean and polish the bauble to a shine on the walk back to camp.

Between Brunnera and Yasha they managed to remove the claws, teeth and most of the feathers, stashing most in the bag of holding. Then butchered the dinosaur to cook some for their dinner and smoke and salt the rest to keep on the road. 

Caleb quietly cast on the ring, seeking any hidden magics while Nott sat for Jester to heal her arm. No enchantments seemed to be wrought into the ring but Jester recognized the stone.

A Star Sapphire.

It was a bit of shocked silence that followed though Caduceus, Brunnera and Yasha seemed at a loss what it meant. Nor did they seem to particularly care when the value of the stone was explained. Nott nervously looked towards Brunnera, fidgeting with the ring. He gave her a fond smile and a wink before turning back to helping Yasha cut free a blackstrap of meat. The rogue slipped the ring back on her finger, making sure it was snug in place.

As they bedded down for the night with full bellies; Brunnera regaled the Nein with the heroic tale of Nott the Brave and the Ground Hawk in his halting, afflicted but dramatic speech. He wove the story masterfully, having all the Nein on the edge of their seats. Jester had pulled out her journal, rapidly scribbling out sketches and parts of the story as she listened. By the end Nott was puffed with embarrassed pride having slain the beast with two perfectly aimed shots with only one arm after having the other nearly bitten off, a minor assist from Brunnera, and discovering treasure in its stomach. 

Nott had busied herself braiding a few of the blue feathers into the firbolg fighter's hair, smiling to herself through the whole story. She had to admit, even just internally, the way the tale was spun she certainly felt a bit more brave.

**Author's Note:**

> A. Y'all cruel DMs out there hiding treasure in the guts of monsters. Not cool...
> 
> B. Dinosaurs are birds. Canon. 
> 
> C. Also what if? Yanno… Rumblecusp… Volcano? Dinos? I'M JUST SAYIN'.
> 
> I'm going to be able to start hitting some big jump off points in the timeline soon and start catapulting into the core of what this AU is centered around! I'm excited to get into those parts of this storyline. It's what set all this off in the first place!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed! I really enjoyed writing this one!


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